K A S H R U T . C O M_©

March 21, 2025 from Agfunder News:

"The race is on to find more sustainable, functional, or healthy alternatives to animal and tropical fats (coconut, palm, cocoa). But does the next generation of “designer fats” fit the bill?

"While several startups in the novel fats space are coaxing microbes or animal cells to produce some of these more saturated fats, San Jose, Calif.-based Savor is deploying a thermochemical approach which it claims is more scalable, whereby it takes a carbon source and a hydrogen source, heats them up and oxidizes them to create fatty acids.

"The company launched its first product from its pilot facility in Illinois: animal-and-plant-free butter.

"Labeling is still to be determined for the butter alternative, which has self-GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status in the US, and is targeting baking, confectionery and dairy applications. A cocoa butter equivalent will follow soon.

"To date, Savor has developed multiple prototypes that replicate the functional properties of milkfat, cocoa butter, lard, beef tallow and liquid vegetable oils

"The 25,000-square-foot pilot production facility in Batavia, Illinois, has the initial capacity to produce metric tons of fat, said the firm, which has 10 pending and issued patents covering its process 'from feedstock to final products as well as several families of product formulations.'"